The Dream of the Blue Turtles
*jazz fusion *art rock *new wave }} | length = 41:40 | label = A&M 75021-3750-2 | producer = Sting and Pete Smith | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = Bring on the Night | next_year = 1986 | misc = }} | rev2 = Chicago Tribune | rev2score = | rev3 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music | rev3score = | rev4 = Rolling Stone | rev4Score = | rev5 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide | rev5Score = | rev6 = The Village Voice | rev6Score = C+ }} The Dream of the Blue Turtles is the first solo album by English musician Sting, released in the United States on 1 June 1985. The album reached number three on the UK Albums Chart and number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200. In the US the album spawned four singles, "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free", "Fortress Around Your Heart", "Russians" and "Love Is the Seventh Wave". The album earned Grammy nominations for Album of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Jazz Instrumental Performance and Best Engineered Recording. Background and release The album is named after a dream of Sting's. Although the single "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" reached No. 3 in the US, it only reached 26 in the UK, where the album's track "Russians" (about Cold War nuclear anxieties, which had peaked in the 1980s) proved more popular. In the UK the album was kept off No. 1 in the week of its release by Marillion's Misplaced Childhood and Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen occupying the top two places. However, in the US, the album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The movie Bring on the Night documents some of the recording work that produced this album, as well as the subsequent tour. Songs The songs include "Children's Crusade" (paralleling the destruction of the younger generation in World War I to the devastation brought about by heroin addiction in modern-day London) ; the original uptempo arrangement of The Police song "Shadows in the Rain"; "We Work the Black Seam" (about the UK miners' strike of 1984–85); and "Moon over Bourbon Street", a song inspired by Anne Rice's novel Interview with the Vampire. "Consider Me Gone" references the first quatrain of Shakespeare's Sonnet 35. Accolades Grammy Awards |- | style="width:35px; text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|1986 || rowspan="2"| The Dream of the Blue Turtles || Album of the Year || |- | Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male || |- Track listing B-sides * "Another Day" - 3:54 * "Gabriel's Message" - 2:15 Singles *"If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" (1985) #3 US Hot 100, #26 UK Singles Chart *"Russians" (1985) #16 US Hot 100, #12 UK Singles Chart *"Fortress Around Your Heart" (1985) #8 US Hot 100, #49 UK Singles Chart *"Love Is the Seventh Wave" (1985) #17 US Hot 100, #41 UK Singles Chart *"Moon over Bourbon Street" (1986) #44 UK Singles ChartSting in the UK Charts , The Official Charts. - B-side of "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" Personnel * Sting – lead vocals, guitar, synthesizer, double bass on "Moon over Bourbon Street", additional backing vocals * Omar Hakim – drums * Darryl Jones – bass guitar * Kenny Kirkland – keyboards * Danny Quatrochi – Synclavier, additional backing vocals * Branford Marsalis – soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, percussion * Robert Ashworth – additional guitar * Eddy Grant – congas (7) * Frank Opolko – trombone (2) * Dolette McDonald – backing vocals * Janice Pendarvis – backing vocals * Pete Smith – backing vocals * Elliot Jones – backing vocals * Jane Alexander – backing vocals * Vic Garbarini – backing vocals * Pamela Quinlan - backing vocals * The Nannies Chorus – backing vocals * Rosemary Purt – backing vocals * Stephanie Crewdson – backing vocals * Joe Sumner – backing vocals * Kate Sumner – backing vocals * Michael Sumner – backing vocals Production * Pete Smith – engineer, producer * Sting – producer * Jim Scott – engineer * Bob Ludwig – mastering at Masterdisk (New York, NY). * Max Vadukul – photography * Danny Quatrochi – photography * Michael Ross – art direction and design * Richard Frankel – art direction and design Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts Certifications }} }} } References Category:1985 debut albums Category:Sting (musician) albums Category:A&M Records albums